BERLUTI AUX JEUX OLYMPIQUES ET PARALYMPIQUES DE PARIS 2024

With 100 days to go, LVMH and Berluti reveal Team France’s uniforms for the Opening Ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Outfitting outstanding athletes and coaches for a momentous occasion

For the partnership between LVMH and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, Berluti has brought together the savoir-faire and experience of its artisans to ensure that the French athletes look their very best for the Opening Ceremonies Paris 2024 on July 26th and August 28th.

Berluti has taken on a challenge of athletic proportions to help the selected French athletes of Paris 2024 make an impression right from the starting line. In collaboration with the athletes, as well as the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee and the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, every one of the Maison’s teams devoted months of energy and creativity to designing an outfit that embodies true elegance à la française.

Berluti has reprised the stylistic codes that make up its identity, such as noble materials and patina effects, to create a tuxedo-inspired outfit adapted to a wide range of body types. The Opening Ceremonies will see French athletes and coaches clad in Berluti tuxedos and shoes, all custom-tailored to immortalize this unique occasion that already represents a significant achievement for any sportsperson – that of being selected to take part in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.

This summer, Berluti’s artisans will be focused on one key objective of showcasing both the Maison’s savoir-faire and France’s athletes to the whole world.

STYLING TEAM FRANCE: A VERY SPECIAL ORDER

Berluti called upon the efforts of every one of its expert artisans to create the 1,500 outfits for Team France. The Maison will dress each member of the team for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 from toe to top, including tuxedo, shirt, belt, scarf or pocket square, and shoes. The entire ensemble will be presented in a bag created especially for the occasion.

These outfits were designed in France and made in Italy at the ateliers that traditionally produce the Maison’s collections, using fabrics sourced exclusively within Europe. All the garments comply with Berluti’s exacting criteria regarding quality and finish.

Naturally, the outfits must also meet certain requirements in line with the athletes and the event. To cater to all body shapes and ensure a perfect fit for each athlete, Berluti has designed and crafted the outfits in a vast array of sizes, with clothing from 3XS to 6XL and shoes in sizes 1 to 22. In doing so, the Maison has expanded its standard size chart to offer the 14 sizes required by all the hopefuls on Team France.

For several months, under the creative direction of Fashion Consultant and Stylist Carine Roitfeld, the Maison consulted the athletes themselves along with the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee and the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, to gather their experiences and understand their specific needs. The resulting outfits brim with style, elegance, flexibility, and comfort, leaving each athlete free of constraints in the runup to the major sporting events and intense Opening Ceremonies. These outfits have been designed to invoke pride among the French athletes and coaches and to live up to their ambitions. By wearing them, the members of Team France will become ambassadors of French savoir-faire, all primed to make a lasting impression during this momentous occasion.

To complete the outfit down to the smallest detail, the Maison has turned to the circular economy and developed suit pockets and scarves created from fabric scraps. Maison Berluti has also teamed up with a start-up created by the LVMH Group to give a second life to dormant materials from its brands’ warehouses.

BACKSTAGE

Replete with a sense of ceremony, the tuxedo designed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 is cut from elegant, midnight-blue wool. The jacket includes a shawl collar that sports a motif inspired by an all-new “French flag” patina. This motif has been created especially for the occasion in shades of blue and red, standing as a tribute to the Maison’s historic savoir-faire. Forming the centrepiece of each French athlete’s outfit, the jacket is also presented in a sleeveless version [for women].

This garment will be paired with a white shirt ([sleeved for men and sleeveless for women] with or without sleeves) cut from a cotton-silk blend.

Gracing the men’s feet will be a pair of Berluti Shadow trainers, whose emblematic navy blue has been redesigned with the French national colours. The female athletes and coaches, meanwhile, will sport either the Shadow or the Maison’s flexible Lorenzo leather loafer.

8.000m of fabric has been used, as well as over 100km of stitching: the equivalent of over two marathons. 2km of shoelaces for all the Shadow sneaker pairs, and over 1.000 hours of patina and glaçage work for belts and shoes. 384.000 stitches for the Shadow sneakers.

Just like the athletes, we too cover miles: over 8,000m of fabric used and over 100km of sewing done to make the outfits, the length of more than 2 marathons, and finally, 2km of shoelaces for all of the French team’s pairs of Shadow sneakers.